New Amsterdam Town Day set for this week

NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – All is set for the New Amsterdam Town Day, which is to be observed this Saturday, November 25.

The planning committee has listed six days of activities to mark the occasion.
Patricia Lynch, Coordinator of the New Amsterdam Town Day Secretariat, explained that the opening ceremony would be held this Thursday on the lawns of State House in New Amsterdam.

Leading up to that would be the march past. Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, is expected to take the salute in front of the Town Hall.

Yesterday was the environmental walk. This moved off from the New Amsterdam Town Hall and along the Main Road to Lot 36 Stanleytown in the vicinity of the Stanleytown Cemetery where an attempt was made to improve the aesthetics.

Tomorrow is set aside to pamper senior citizens; retirees were asked to identify a total of 50 persons above the age of 65 within the New Amsterdam area. These individuals would be entertained, treated to a beauty salon visit, and taken later on what organizers call a scenic bus ride to locations along the Corentyne Highway.

The Spelling Bee began in October and the finals would be held this Wednesday at the New Amsterdam Town Hall. Fraser’s Academy and St. Therese’s are expected to battle for supremacy. These schools proved themselves superior to Overwinning Primary and School of the Nations in the semi finals.

A cultural extravaganza is slated for the New Amsterdam Town Hall at 20:00 hours Friday. The artistes were selected from in and around New Amsterdam.
The zenith of the celebration is the exposition and street fair.

This would be held on Main Street between St. John and St. Ann Streets. In the evening will be the fancy dress and oldies party which would be hosted at the New Amsterdam Town Hall.

There only music from the 1950s and 60s would fill the air. The very evening is the Town Day bash at the Esplanade Recreation Park.

The curtain comes down on Sunday with a grand gospel explosion on the lawns of State House.
‘Celebrating Our Rich Heritage in 2008’ was selected as the theme for this year. Mrs. Lynch explained that the theme was appropriately chosen since an entire day was set aside for those who contributed towards building today’s society – the senior citizens.

“We are looking at the seniors because without them we would not have been able to reminisce on the town of New Amsterdam or look at our heritage. Many times we tend to place our seniors on the back burner and they gave us our present.”

The exhibition and street fair, this year, should feature at least ten large entities with head offices based in Georgetown.
To date none of the New Amsterdam-based entities or local producers has indicated an interest.